There will have been a time where you will have had to change your car battery, and when you have tried to lift it you will have undoubtedly spotted that it has weighed a lot more than you were expecting.
This is also because the car battery is so small. You will have wondered: how much does this thing weigh? Or words to that effect…
You will be disappointed to learn that this question does not have an easy answer. This is due to the fact that there are a whole lot of factors that contribute to the weight of a car battery.
These factors that influence the weight of the battery include the materials that are used to make the battery, the electrolyte that is in use and also the size of the battery itself.
We can give you an average weight for the car battery though, and this would be approximately 43.2 pounds or 19.6kgs.
What Is The Car Battery?
The role of the car battery is essentially the pulse which is meant to keep the car going. The car battery will eventually drain and it will need to be replaced, nothing lasts forever, right?!
When it comes to having a new car battery, you will be pleased to know that this is not something that you will need to charge before you can use it.
That’s right, the car battery will actually leave the factory while it is fully charged and you will just need to plug it in and then start up the car.
Here’s the thing, depending on the length of time that the battery sits on the shelf for, it could end up losing some charge because of self-discharge but this is not something to worry about.
So, when we are talking about a new car battery – this is something which will come fully charged, but, depending on the amount of time that it has been sitting on a shelf for before it has been used then it will have lost some charge.
It is true that a new car battery can be plugged directly into the vehicle and it can be used almost immediately. When a car battery is stored for extended periods then you should always connect a charger to it just so that you can be sure that it is fully charged.
This will in turn work to help avoid damage to the battery.
Let’s Talk Lead Acid Batteries
It is true that lead acid batteries are the heaviest of any kind of battery type for a given size, and this is because these batteries are primarily made of lead electrolytes and also lead plates.
Lead is an especially heavy material especially in comparison to other metals such as steel, copper and brass. Lithium is no comparison to this as this metal is extremely light.
What does this mean? Well, for a given size of the lead plate this will weigh as much as 40% more than the same size of the steel plate.
It is also true that the battery acid is heavy, and this in turn means that for any given volume of battery acid this will weigh a whopping 83% more than a similar volume of water.
These are the two factors which ultimately combine to make a lead acid battery heavy for its size. This is especially true if you compare this battery to other similar-sized batteries which are made from other materials.
How Long Will A Car Battery Last?
As we mentioned before, a car battery has a definite lifespan and so it will need to be replaced at some point. There are a whole host of factors which can have an influence on just how long a car battery will last for.
On average, a car battery can last between 3-4 years on average, but it is important to remember that there are other factors which will determine how long the car battery will last for.
When you look at a flooded lead acid battery then this will last you for 3-4 years, however, a gel and absorbent glass battery will typically last you for 5-6 years if it is well-maintained.
Additionally, a Lithium ion battery should last you from anywhere between 6-8 years, and a Nickel metal hydride battery will last even longer than this, a whopping 7-8 years.
It is important to recognise that actually, as long as car batteries are well maintained then they can end up lasting for much longer than the time frames which we have outlined.
What About Car Battery Standards?
So, there are the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) batteries, which have been utilized by the Japanese car industry to classify the battery sizes. The majority of cars that come from Japan will come with batteries that are of these standards.
The problem with these standards is that they are not acceptable everywhere.
This is where the trade association of battery manufacturers, recyclers, distributors and also retailers form an industrial body that is called the Battery Council International (BCI). This body was given the task of devising standards which would be acceptable to put in place across all of the jurisdictions.
The BCI is the standard of batteries that is used most widely today, and it is also true that even the Japanese car industry is also adapting so that they can suit the standards put in place by the BCI.
In Conclusion
The car battery is pretty heavy, especially in comparison to its size. A car battery really needs to be handled with care as this will avoid any injuries occurring.
They also need to make sure that the car battery should not be dropped or it should be prevented from falling, this is because this could end up causing the battery to break and then spill the electrolyte.
Or, dropping a car battery could cause it to be destroyed internally, for instance the plates inside could end up detaching if the battery gets dropped.
